<p>What do I do?</p>
<p>Force your parents to file the taxes. The IDOC was due yesterday I believe so get them to file and then as soon as they do, you can submit the IDOC. The late submission might delay your financial aid award or even lower it. But have them do it as soon as they can. It isn’t the end of the world yet.</p>
<p>The IDOC was not “due yesterday” for all students. It depends on the colleges you have applied to, and I think your IDOC due date for you is the earliest date requested for any college on the list. You need to try to do the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Get your parents to commit to when they will have their taxes filed. Add a few days of fluff onto their estimate (just my suggestion). They only need federal taxes (not state) done, but they do also need taxes related to any businesses they own as well.</li>
<li>Notify the financial aid office at the colleges that there has been a delay in your parents’ tax filing, and tell them when you expect to mail off the IDOC package (that filing date plus a few days of “fluff”). The packages takes about a week to get to IDOC and then get accepted there so the colleges can see it. So tell them when you are mailing it…</li>
</ul>
<p>Tell your parents that what centennial13 said is right. A delay in this can definitely delay getting your FA award (thus putting you in a position of having a shorter period of time to compare and consider your college acceptances and their FA offers). It can also possibly reduce the offer because honestly, colleges do run out of aid or reduce it sometimes for those that apply late.</p>
<p>You can file with provisional numbers based on last year’s taxes and update with corrected numbers once this year’s are filed.</p>
<p>This is IDOC… you can’t really do that. They DON’T want last year’s tax returns unless a college specifically has asked for it. You have to get this year’s returns done and sent in, and they need the whole IDOC package at one time.</p>
<p>^^^^Yupp since IDOC required copies of the actual tax returns, you can’t use provisional numbers because once you mail them to the collegeboard, it’s final. That is why you must send the 2012 Tax returns.</p>
<p>Before you try to force your parents to do anything, you need to ask them why they haven’t filed their taxes. Do they file their own taxes, or do they use a paid preparer (accountant, CPA, tax advisor…) If they do file o their own, but don’t have the time to deal with it, it might be worthwhile to use a paid preparer this year - yes, it costs more than a box of software, but it we be done sooner.</p>
<p>If they already use a paid preparer, find out if it is a matter of being able to get an appointment - if they use an Accountant, they may be low on the pecking order of his client list. </p>
<p>Lastly, it may be an issue of not being able to file. Just because everybody else has filed their taxes doesn’t mean your parents can. There may be documents missing, they may have to wait for someone else to complete a business or trust return, so they can get the documents they need. It’s not as simple as “tell to file already.” All of those issues have been compounded by delays at the IRS.</p>
<p>The most important thing at this point is to communicate with the financial aid offices at the schools that need the documents. Make sure they know why there is a delay. While they could run out of money, as previously suggested, they also can hold a tentative aid package for you (if they so choose) if they know the delay is beyond your (and your parents’) control.</p>